a/n: this is a special chapter, i guess. it's rather short but i felt as if it needed to be on its own! hopefully it paints the picture of the story clearer!!

Yerim is alone. 

She always is these days.

The dying sunlight makes the woods almost impossible to navigate- the dark erases any possibility of keeping track of where one is standing, but it also makes it beautiful. Yerim is sitting at a high point from where the infinite trees that cover the horizon can be seen. They silently move at the command of the wind. Almost as one. The passing breeze blows away all the secrets that they hide and keeps them in a place where no one will find them; in plain sight. Yerim gladly listens to them as the air blows her hair and caresses her face. It gives her goosebumps.

The trees are all being washed by a vanishing light, and the pink- soon to be black sky, makes the place look almost magical.

It probably Is.

She likes it that way. 

She likes it because that means that in a matter of minutes no one’s gonna dare to enter the place.

She has the forest all to herself.

When the pinks become greys and she finally feels sheltered by the loneliness, Yerim breaks down crying. 

She cries because she’s scared. Because she’s confused. Because she doesn’t know what else to do.

The tears cover her face, but nothing covers those images in her head. She’s always seeing them now. Like a constant loop playing at the back of her mind.

What came to her in a dream, now tortures her like a nightmare.

It’s Yeojin. It’s always Yeojin.

And she can never do anything.

Every time Yerim closes her eyes, she has to watch her best friend meet an ill fate over and over again and the worst part is that that’s all she can do. Watch.

Yerim doesn’t know how to make them stop. Should she make them stop? What do they mean?  Are they some sort of prophecy? Or just a sick play of Yerim’s imagination?

She hopes it’s the latter. She doesn’t feel too confident, though.

*

There’s snow in her visions. There’s always snow.

When November starts, Yerim knows she’s running out of time.

*

It’s been two days since her time’s started ticking.

Yerim finds herself immersed in crying, once again, feeling hopeless. 

Feeling lost.

Alone.

Except, she’s not. Not literally, at least.

She hears a crack from somewhere around her. The snap of a tree branch. Yerim gets no time to speculate what caused the noise because she is immediately met with the view of a girl walking towards her.

A girl that sees her crying and asks her what's wrong.

A girl that seems worried for Yerim, and genuinely so.

A girl that Yerim tells everything to because why not. She tells her everything about the visions she’s been having. And how they make her feel. How she can’t deal with them anymore. And how useless she feels for that.

The girl understands. More than anyone ever should. More than Yerim herself.

That girl keeps her company for the rest of the day.

*

The girl keeps her company every day after that.

Sometimes they walk through the forest, and talk about nothing.

Other times they just sit in one spot, and talk about everything.

Those are the days in which Yerim tells her about her many visions. About how they’re never wrong. About how scary that is. About how the forest is so special to her. How it’s always felt like an extraordinary place; just like she is.

The girl does the same to Yerim. They share secrets to pass the time.

*

“Hey,” Says the girl almost three weeks into meeting, “Those visions, I can help you with them.”

“Can you?”

“Well I know about something you could do to avoid that fate.”

“What is it?”

“You’d have to stop your friend from meeting any fate…at all. In this place, at least.”

Yerim simply tilts her head, curiously.

“I can help her cross over,” The girl explains, “She’ll be safer somewhere else.”

It’s either that or do nothing at this point.

Yerim loses Yeojin in both options.

But at least the second one keeps her safe.

*

Yerim takes a few days to think it over. A few days that make the end of November get closer.

She’s pushing her luck with the time, and she knows it.

A week passes and Yerim makes her decision.

*

The snow comes as Yerim’s visions about Yeojin go.

They stop after that.

They take something else with it- someone else.

But she’s safe now, so it’s okay. It’s fine.

The girl was right, her idea worked.

Jinsoul's idea worked.